Proving them wrong
by Vanillasauce
Summary: Harry meets Hermione far earlier than at Hogwarts and under very different circumstances - in a mental asylum. How will this change the both of them and will they ever be able to go to Hogwarts? Or are they just imagining things? No pairings  yet


Proving them wrong

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><p>Disclaimer: Nothing belongs to me - everything belongs to J.! Most places actually exist or existed in real life like Frier Hospital, look at wikipedia :D OC are mine ^^<p>

Warning: There will be swearing and insane people... Does that actually warrant an M rating? Probably not but violence and gore might or might not occur in far later chapters.

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><p>Prologue<p>

A young, black haired boy nervously walked down the white corridor, clutching the hand of a nurse whose name he had forgotten already. He longingly stared out of the windows that lined the left side of the enormously long hallway and shied away from the right side of it, the side where _the doors_ were. They were painted a very light blue and he could hear moaning and whispering voices from beyond them. The boy's piercing green eyes looked uncertainly at the nurse; surely he wouldn't have to go to them? After all, they hadn't let him near the patients at the other place either.

A few minutes later, however, the middle aged woman led him through one of the doors, only to end up in another corridor. This one was far shorter and painted in a cheery yellow. At the end, the hallway led into a big room, full of small children playing with stuffed animals or drawing. The room felt airy and nice, with big windows and comfortable looking pillows strewn about. The small boy looked around shyly; he wasn't used to so many children. Suddenly another woman appeared before him. She had shoulder-length brown hair and dark brown eyes. She seemed nice.

"Dora, how nice to see you! Haven't seen you around in a while."

The nurse smiled at the younger woman and replied that she had been taking time off from work to look after her sick son. "It's dreadful, a fully grown man and still I have to take care of him. But I love him so it's no big trouble." They laughed and then their focus switched to the boy.

"And who might this young man be?"

"This is Harry Potter, I'm sure they've told you in advance about his situation."

The young woman frowned and nodded. "Yes, I heard what happened, it's horrible, really. And they really had him in Broadmoor first? Unbelievable! Sending a young boy to such a place!" Dora nodded, also looking quite put out. She then turned to Harry and smiled at him. "Now Harry, this is Doctor Steiner, she will be the one to make sure you get better." Here the woman interrupted her cheerily. "It's alright Harry, call me Amber, please. All the kids here do and it would be strange if one of you started to go all formal on me." She smiled at him again and Harry decided that he liked her; she was completely different to all the doctors at the other place.

Nurse Dora nodded and then announced that she had to return to her designated ward and couldn't linger any longer. Amber bid her farewell and reminded her to come by more often. Then she led Harry out through a door on the other side of the room.

"I think we should first tour our Juvenile Ward and then I'll show you your room and your roommate. If that is okay with you of course." The black haired boy nodded.

"Alright, so the room we just left was the playroom, it is often occupied by the younger ones or the children of visitors. The older kids don't go there much; they often find it to be too noisy." Together they entered a new room which was full with long tables. Harry saw some children sitting there and scribbling into notebooks or reading books. "This is the dining hall. Here you'll be having your meals three times a day. I'll give you a schedule as soon as we're done with the tour, there you'll see when the meals start and end. If you're hungry in between meals, the red door over there leads to the kitchen." Harry followed her outstretched hand and nodded as he saw the door, it was quite big and hard to overlook.

"You won't get any sweets, except on Sundays as desserts, but you can always go and get fruit or other little snacks there. There is also cordial stored in the kitchen. If you take a glass with you, you are expected to return it the next day so it can be washed. Empty bottles will also have to be disposed of there."

They walked across the room towards a green door that had _Juvenile Ward_ written across. "In between mealtimes you are free to come here and use the desks however you like. As you can see we are entering the Juvenile Ward now, it's where your rooms are located." They stepped through the door and there was another corridor with no windows but countless doors on both sides. "These are the bed rooms. You are not allowed to enter any room but your own, at any time. If you wish to spend time with another patient, it will have to be done in the common rooms like the playroom and the dining hall or outside in the gardens. The people marked with a red cross on their clothes are to be avoided, but they are normally in the company of a nurse or doctor, so it is quite unlikely that you'll meet any of them on your own."

This was the first time that Harry actually spoke up. "Are they dangerous?"

Amber smiled sadly and shook her head. "No, they are not, but they are special cases that need a lot of attention. Too much contact with other patients would be bad for them." He nodded at that and they continued on towards the end of the corridor. The hallway ended into a small room with a panorama window, looking out into a beautiful garden. "As you can see our ward isn't particularly big but you are free to roam the entire hospital and the gardens. Down there is the main garden. Many patients are visited by their relatives and they prefer to be away from the other patients. There are, however, two smaller gardens that are closed off from anybody but the residents." Harry was looking at the garden in awe, it was beautiful and vast.

Smiling the woman tugged at his small hand and walked towards one of the doors. "This is your room, Harry. We don't usually separate our patients under the age of thirteen by gender and due to a slight shortage of rooms your roommate is a girl a little bit older than you. No untoward behaviour is allowed and there will be patrols to make sure that you don't get out of bounds."

Harry nodded, a bit confused, and was met by yet another smile. Doctor Amber smiled quite a lot, very unlike his aunt Petunia. "Her name is Hermione and I'm sure she'll help you get around soon." With these words she knocked and then opened the door. The room was nothing like Harry had imagined. It was painted a light green and there were three windows showing the main garden. There were three beds, one at the right side of the room and one bunk bed on the left side. A wardrobe stood next to the bunk bed and a desk with three chairs and a small bookshelf stood next to the single bed. Everything looked well-kept and clean. On the single bed a girl with bushy brown hair was sitting, reading a very thick book. On the shelf there were also many books, Harry noted.

When they had entered the girl abruptly looked up and Harry could see that she had warm chocolate brown eyes. "Hello Hermione. This is Harry, your new roommate. I do hope that you'll help him get used to living here." The girl, Hermione, nodded and then smiled up at Harry. "Of course, that will be no problem, Amber." The doctor nodded, satisfied, and then turned to Harry. "Here, this is your schedule. You can see when the meals are served, when there is a therapy scheduled and when you have classes. I'll pick you up for your first therapy session tomorrow so I can show you the offices and therapy rooms. Now, I'll let you settle in, your belongings are in the wardrobe. If there is a problem, Hermione knows where everything is. Well then, welcome to Friern Hospital."

The next thing he knew, Harry was alone in the room with Hermione. Said girl slid off her bed and walked towards him, hand outstretched in greeting. "Just to do this properly, my name is Hermione Jean Granger. It's a pleasure to meet you." Harry carefully took her hand and shook it. "Harry James Potter. It's, uhm, really nice to meet you too." As if she had expected that (and she had), she nodded and walked back to her bed. When she was back to sitting she talked once more. "I'm sure this is all very confusing, right? But don't worry; you'll soon find out that it isn't as bad as it looks." At that Harry had to raise an eyebrow. "I don't have to worry? But this is a loony bin, right?" Hermione sniffed disdainfully at that. "It's a mental asylum, thank you very much. You really shouldn't make derogatory comments about it when you're a patient here, you know. And besides, I'm totally sane. They just think that I'm not all there."

Harry frowned at that; what did derogatory mean anyway? "Same as me. I don't feel very insane, at least." A little snicker was the response. "Of course, there's hardly anybody who admits to being a lunatic after all. But anyway, let me see your schedule, maybe we have the same classes?" While she studied his timetable, Harry shyly asked, "Why do we have classes anyway?" She blinked at the question and then looked up at him.

"Oh, it's a privilege. Only those who are deemed capable of actually learning this stuff and retaining it are allowed to have them. Those poor kids that have such strong disorders that they can't go… Well, you normally see them around a nurse."

Harry shuddered at that and sat down on the lower bunk. "What about the adult patients? Are they, you know, dangerous?"

"Oh no, they are pretty harmless. Some are aggressive but they stay in extra wards and we never see them. They aren't dangerous; those are usually kept at other institutions. I actually like to stay in the grown-up's' wards, they have a small library. And I have a friend there, Richard. I'll take you to meet him tomorrow. You'll like him, I'm sure."

Harry was a bit sceptical about that but nodded anyway. It seemed as if Hermione was done with examining his schedule as she placed it on the desk next to her bed. "Yup, we have the same classes, so I can help you if you want. I'm top in all courses." She smiled proudly at that and puffed out her chest a bit. Harry snickered and then flopped onto his new bed, stretching out. He still wasn't used to having so much space.

Since it was nearly evening Hermione led him to the dining hall shortly afterwards, chatting happily about the healthy food they were always getting and how Richard sometimes smuggled her some sweets. "But don't tell anyone, you hear me? We only get sweets on Sundays or special occasions. They'd be mad if they knew that I eat them more often."

Dinner was a fairly loud affair; there were roughly forty kids from five to seventeen eating there. Harry wasn't able to eat even half of his plate but nobody asked questions. He noticed that hardly anyone finished, Hermione being one of the few. When they were done and heading back to their room ("Curfew for those under ten starts right after dinner, lights out an hour later.") Harry still felt anxious. What if he had to stay here forever? He wasn't crazy. He really wasn't.

Hermione decided that since it was his first day and he must be exhausted, they would turn in sooner than was necessary, so it was only a quarter of an hour later that Harry found himself lying in his new bed in his new pyjamas and staring at the wooden bed-frame above him. Just how was he supposed to convince them that he didn't belong here? How could he show them that he truly had magic? With these troubling thoughts he finally fell asleep, unaware of the brown eyes watching him curiously.

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><p>Yay, my frist multi chapter fic :D pls leave me a review and tell me what you think! Chu~ Vanillasauce<p> 


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